Panther City

new blog

2007-07-20T00:12:00.001-04:00

hey all everybody. I have a new blog page. Panther city is now defunct.

Check out the new blog at

http://eikonchurch.com/myownpath

peace

Most controversial newsletter article ever...

2007-06-20T00:26:00.000-04:00

I love the church I work at part time. The first Presbyterian Church of Granbury takes very good care of me and I love it. I am not sure why, but I felt particularly feisty this month as I sat down to write my monthly newsletter article. So here it is. It was not published. :)

Friends,
Pastor Charles once asked me if I would rather be a priest or a prophet. A priest, he explained, was someone who cared for the people's needs. The priest stayed in one place and ministered to the people and provided them a way of experiencing the divine. The prophet by contrast very seldom stayed anywhere very long. The reason: no one liked him. The prophet sought not to meet people's needs, but to engage in truth-telling for the benefit of God's purpose. Most of us know how often our purposes and "needs" conflict with the gospel and God's call to love beyond ourselves. Back to the question, am I a priest or prophet. Well, since I am not ordained yet, I think I will try my hand at both.

You see, I deeply care about all of you. I deeply care about our youth. I want to be able to help connect them to Christ. However, the prophet inside tells me that God also cares about people beyond my reach. Pastor Charles is correct in reminding us every so often when we remember our troops that we should also remember the lives of innocent Iraqis that have been killed in the fighting. In that spirit, I want to bring some light to something we may never think about. Gordon Brown, probable Prime Minister of England after Tony Blair, has said that in the past, global hunger and poverty was a problem we simply did not have the technology or know-how to overcome. "now", he says, "with the science, technology, and knowledge available, we must face the truth that the real barrier is indifference." America lacks the political will to eliminate poverty. Many of us have not thought critically of our countries policy decisions, but here is where the prophet in me must speak. The war in Iraq costs America $1 billion per day. Congress has repeatedly shot down bills that would give $5 billion (over 5 years) to homeless shelters and food banks which are desperate for support. The cost of the war thus far could have eliminated global poverty and then some. Some call this security, and it may be, but I believe God would call this sin. Jesus' first message to the people was "good news to the poor." Political will is needed for us to act in accordance with the scriptures.

Far from critiquing America's military and troops, instead I feel that Christians must be unified FOR the poor. Over 17% of the Bible speaks about God's heart for the poor and those who should be called God's people being judged for not helping. With such a diverse group as we are, we have such a powerful opportunity to stop splitting our churches over secondary issues and unite under God's heart for the down and out. We all realize our own thankfulness to God for our spiritual salvation, now lets turn our heart to those who need God's physical salvation through the hands of his body, the church.

God bless you all for how warm you have been to the children and youth of our church. They are going to make history. Let's train them well.

Your friendly neighborhood youth leader,
Chad

immigration

2007-05-28T13:07:00.001-04:00

These remind me of a cartoon from the mid-90s of a white man marveling at a new immigration proposal and saying "Good, now these immigrants will go back where they came from," and an Indian next to him says, "Ok, I'll help you pack." lol.

I am done drinking Coke

2007-05-24T11:02:00.000-04:00

In what might be the most controversial blog ever, I want to call everyone who reads this blog to stop drinking Coca-cola products. Why? you can watch the 3 youtube vidoes below, but first, I want to make something clear. I am not boycotting Coke because Coke is bad. I am not boycotting Coke because "Jesus wouldn't drink Coke". I once heard a quote along the lines of, "even the finest cloth is ugly if it makes pain and unhappiness." This is true. It is like a really hot girl that is mean to little kids. She just gets less hot. Things that might be good get less attractive when they create horror. That is what Coke is like. I really like Coke and Coke products. They taste good. But no personal taste benefit to me is worth the lives of millions worlwide. Here is why Coke is no longer hot to me:

- In Plachimada, India, Coke depleted the water wells of locals. Adding insult to injury, Coca Cola also distributed "free fertilizer" to indigenous farmers. The "fertilizer" was a by-product of its production process and was loaded with cadmium, a carcinogenic toxin.

- A Coke plant in Mehdiganj has caused Indian citizens in twenty towns to face significant water scarcity, with water tables dropping by 18 feet.

- In Colombia, nine Coca Cola-employed union leaders have been killed and hundreds of union workers tortured, kidnapped, or attacked by right-wing paramilitaries. The timing of the violence of the paramilitaries has coincided with union agitation and contract negotiations.

- "They are right at the top of the worst companies in the world, and yet they've created an image like they are American pie. When people think of Coca-Cola, they should think about great hardship and despair for people and communities around the world."

Goodbye Coke. You were so attractive. Now you look like a murdering whore. We are through!

Below are some alternatives to Coke, with much better human rights records.

Cadbury Schweppes PLC
Cadbury Schweppes drink brands include 7Up, Canada Dry, Dr. Pepper, Hawaiian Punch, Mott's juices, Orangina, Schwepps sodas and Snapple. It's American division is located in Plano, Texas at (972) 673-7000
(Dr. Pepper is HUGE in TEXAS! Plus, Snapple rules!)

Jones Soda Co.
Jones Soda makes and distributes alternative or new age beverages, including Jones Soda, a premium soda; Jones Naturals, a non-carbonated juice and tea drink; Jones Energy, an energy drink, and WhoopAss, an energy drink
(Jones had comic book heroes on its labels once. So it rules)

Pepsico Inc.
Pepsico drink brands include Pepsi, Tropicana juices and Gatorade.
(Pepsi has had its fair share of human rights violations, but has a better record than Coke of fixing them. I would still try to stay away...)

Hansen Natural Corp.
It's engaged in the business of marketing, selling and distributing alternative beverages, natural sodas and fruit juices.
(Better for you, the environment, and the lives of children worldwide)

Coke seems to be able to play the smae game America does. They create an image that they sell to us in our nation, but when they get beyond America's borders, we see them doing whatever it takes, killing, damaging, exploiting, to get thier profit higher and thier power secure. I am very sad that I have been so nieve for so long. Unfortunately, everytime I look into this kind of stuff, lots more of things get less attractive. I used to buy all of my clothes at Old Navy, but The Gap owns them and Gap is one of the worst human right violators in the world. Also, I have read stunning things about Wal-Mart lately, so they are getting less attractive.

Please hear me on this: I am not saying you shouldn't buy or shop from these companies. I am hoping that you will be so disgusted by them that they no longer hold value for you. Please let it be said that our convenience or cheap products was more important to us than the lives of people who were made in the image (Eikon) of God. Cheers!

Church plant update

2007-05-15T14:52:00.000-04:00

First let me apologize for taking so long for this prayer update. Tons of stuff has been happening for us, so please continue to remember us daily.

Bullet points for prayer:
- Praise God for our meeting with Tim Boal. It exceeded our expectations.
- Praise God that Christina (my wife) is pregnant again. Pray for health for her and the baby.
- Pray for our neighbors. We have seen sparks of God in them. Pray He cultivates them.
- Pray for Michelle to get a new job. Her old one seems to have fulfilled its usefulness.
- Pray for our future meeting space. There is a building we want, but we have run into difficulty finding out any info about it.
- Pray for our launch date. We are tentatively set for September.
- Pray for my school, that I can do well and apply what I learn.

Last month, we had our long awaited meeting with Tim Boal. Meeting at the amazing H3 Steakhouse, Tim affirmed that GBNAM definitely wants to work with us and also include us in the Fellowship of Grace Brethren Churches. Tim noted that GBNAM will begin to pay our medical insurance as soon as possible. He also said that as a GBNAM church planter, they will pay my salary starting in September. Church plant training, help finding meeting spaces, and amazing connections to other churches doing the kind of ministry we want to do were also talked about. We are very excited to join the Fellowship of Grace Brethren Churches and look forward to God's will being done in everything that happens from here on out.

In other news, Christina is pregnant again. Praise God, but most of you know that Christina has fought lots of medical battles this last year and a half so pregnancy makes us a bit timid at this point. Pray that her lupus, psoriasis, and other misc. health issues do not impact her pregnancy.

There is an area here in Fort Worth called Lake Como. It refers to a lake in the middle of the community (which isn't really a lake anymore) where lots of dead bodies would turn up. Needless to say, its a rough area. God has put it on our heart to bless folks in this area. We have participated with a small group of people to have barbeques every couple of weeks there for people to come and eat free, which ends up being a real treat for the kids. We look forward to increasing the frequency of this and perhaps doing even more (bounce houses, games, etc...) to bring a sense of community to a place that has been known for its darkness.

There is a property that is an abandoned warehouse that would be perfect for a church. Pray that the government (or whoever owns it) will just give it to us!

September is when we will probably start to have our preview services. Probably pretty low key, working out the kinks in how we put our services together. Afterwards, we will have a public launch, and invite as many people as we can.

I have been in contact with a group called CMA (church multiplication association), which is a non-denominational church planting resource group. They are flying me to Indianapolis to meet with a coach in order to help us build a strong plant. They "might" also help us a bit with finances.

School is crazy. My brain hurts.

Thank you all so much for praying. I believe that your prayers have allowed so many good things to happen in the last few months. Please, if you all need any prayer, you know where to find us (press reply). God bless,

Eikon (the church plant's name), which is:

Joseph and Michelle Brandley, Kris and Rachel Rosier, and Christina, Autumn, Chad, and One-On-The-Way Presley

Since we are no longer considering calling the church panther city, be on the look out for this blog to change names.... peace out.

R.I.P. Robbert Webber

2007-04-29T23:29:00.000-04:00

It is with great sadness that i found out today about the passing of Robert Webber. Robert Webber helped me a great deal in understanding early church culture, but also was very influential to many in seeking to understand where the church is going. He wrote books like "The Younger Evangelicals" and "Ancient Future Worship". I only met him once, but I am having a hard time understanding why his death is affecting me so much. I don't often get choked up. But here I am. Thanks for everything, Mr. Webber.

you should know

2007-04-26T13:29:00.000-04:00

If you take the time to read my blog, you should know which musical albums are my favorite. So here they are. In ascending order.

Number 5: Creedence Clearwater Revival - Chronicle

Folks, for happy feet feel good music, you just can't beat CCR. I guarantee you that if you listen to this stuff just 30 minutes a day, you will save yourself some counseling bills. How can you go wrong with such greats as "heard it throught the grapevine", "down on the corner", "green river", "proud mary", and 16 other classics?

Numero Quatro:They Might Be Giants - Flood
Ok, this album is rediculous. But it is rediculously brilliant as well. I first heard two of these songs on tiny toon adventures (Istanbul; not Constantinople, and Particle Man) and the rest of the album is rad too. Political, moral, and mental, the Giants bring home satire, wit, and silliness with a good mix of WTF.

#3: Caedmon's Call - 40 Acres
I am forced to overlook the hard Calvinism that runs through thier lyrics, but I happily do so because these guys speak it where I am. A struggle through the Christian life in a way that is niether preachy nor powerless. They tell folk rock stories about love, God, powerlessness, weakness, happiness, and fun. We should all be so committed, or at least as honest.

Number 2. Led Zeppelin - unnamed album
(aka Led Zeppelin IV)
I seriously hesitated putting this number 2 for fear of offending the rock gods. But it is a VERY close number 2. For sheer music genius, you cannot beat Led Zeppelin. In fact, I could have put in any Zep album here. I however, love "The Battle of Everymore", "Misty Mountain Hop", and "Going to California" all on one album. If you don't have this album, RUN to the store (or internet) and get it now. My FAVORITE ALBUM CAN WAIT! GO NOW!

# one. Best album of all time. Barenaked Ladies: Rock Spectacle

The Ladies are best live (trust me I have seen them many times). This album includes much of thier legendary live schtick. No other album goes through the entire range not just of human emotions, but of human experience like this one does. Who would have ever thought that a song about a window washer could peer so deep into my own soul and become my favorite song of all time? Where else can you find a man staying with a girl so as not to break her heart, but finding out the girl would have rather broken up with him than to have a half-assed relationship, breaking his heart in the process? Simply amazing. If you all feel any emotion for me whatsoever, you will first become a possesed revolutionary for Christ, and the next thing you will do is buy this album.

Peace

Wii redux

2007-04-11T14:50:00.000-04:00

I now have a wii. I vow to beat Mike Goldsworthy's high bowling score. If I don't, then I will give up. So there.

Wii

2007-04-03T00:19:00.000-04:00

I am going to refrain from cursing, but there are over 75 retail outlets in the Fort Worth area that carry the Wii gaming console and every single (non-curseword)-ing one of them is sold out. Today, a dude at Wal Mart said it is Nintendo's fault and that they are doing it on purpose to increase excitement and demand. Those (non-curseword)-ing (non-curseword)-ers! Still, I played one the other day and I have to say that it (non-curseword)-ing rocks.

Eikon

2007-03-28T01:52:00.000-04:00

Hey all everybody,

This is an excerpt from our last prayer email for the church plant. If anyone wants to receive said letter, please let me know. Keep your eyes open for a new myspace page, alternate blog, and/or website to pop up soon for the church specifically.
Here ya go:

Wow, lots of new stuff going on. We had a great time in Seattle. We went up there with the idea that we were going to be taught the nuts and bolts of planting a church. The boot camp was not geared that way, but it was still informative. It was more like a pep rally for church planters, which for some, is a legitimate need. Once we got back, we began to make headway into some formal issues. We are soon to incorporate our new plant as a non-profit entity. Our budget is under construction at the moment, and we are looking all around Fort Worth for potential meeting areas and resources.

As a refresher, remember that our vision for the short term (3-5 years) is threefold. Phase 1 is to start a worship gathering. This will be our "church service" where we are always inviting people to worship God with us, evangelizing non-believers with worship and preaching, and using our spiritual gifts in community. We will invite people to believe and belong to Christ through weekly worship.

Phase 2 involves daily life in the community of Fort Worth. By opening a Coffee Shop/Art Gallery/Music studio, we plan to subversively and organically evangelize the hard to reach segment of Fort Worth. Check out a book called "the Celtic way of Evangelism" by George Hunter for more information on this approach. Here, we desire to allow people to belong before they believe, since the front door of evangelism is closed to many un-churched and over-churched people.

Phase 3 is a restoration project. It involves embracing and adopting a neighborhood that might be considered "run down" or dangerous and transforming it through God's Spirit into a safe and life-giving community. There is a group in Fullerton called Solidarity that is doing this extremely well. The idea is to rent/buy a house/apartment in this community and begin to meet the needs of this specific place. Already, we see needs that include Internet access, early childhood care, English lessons, job skills, and aesthetic things like painting and cleaning houses and sidewalks.

We have another meeting with Tim Boal, who is the head of GBNAM, one of our major supporters, on April 18th. Pray that God's will is done and that I hear what Tim can teach us. Pray also for new potential core group members Josh and Joey. I meet with Joey for coffee this week to discuss joining with us. We have built relationships with them and they seem excited about what we are doing.

Lastly, we have chosen a name for our worship gathering. From now on, we will refer to our worship gathering as Eikon (pronounced icon). After much discussion, we chose the Greek word for "image" because we believe that it communicates who we are (made in the image of God), who we are trying to reach (those who are made in God's image, but don't see that in themselves), and what we desire to see God do (restore the world's communities to His image). To some, it may seem like a different kind of name, but it reflects the culture we exist in and that of those we desire to reach. Other newer successful church plants go by names like "Ecclesia", "Sanctuary", "Jacob's Well",etc... It also begs the question of meaning. We look forward to being able to explain what Eikon means to those who ask.

We are currently looking forward to a Fall launch date. Pray that everything we do over the next 6 months will be the steps that are led by God. Thank you all so much. We covet your prayers and thank you for your commitment to God and to us. We could not do this without you.

just thinking...

2007-03-22T16:14:00.000-04:00

I just wanted to air some thoughts that aren't fully thought out.

Panther City needs to decide on whether or not Panther City Church is going to be our official name. It is just time to get that over with.

We need to register our upcoming church as a non-profit organization. This will help those who donate to us to get apprpriate deductions, allow us to open an account, and many other things. Need to do this asap.

"52". This is an idea that I have kicked around for many months now. The idea is to focus on blessing one person that does not meet with us yet. We want to encourage interaction between us and those we wish to bless. Every week, we want to challenge each other to bless the smae person somehow every week for a year. Every week, find some way to bless those around us. If you are doing something better, then good. If not, then do this.

I like the idea of being a "go and do" church instead of a "come and see" church. Are we for ourselves or for the world?

I don't like being preached at. Especially for long periods of time. I like when people teach me. Especially for long periods of time. Hopefiully I am more of the second. That is how i see myself, anyway. Reply and let me know.

Hospitality is for those who don't belong yet. Fellowship is for those that do. Agree? Disagree?

How do we feel about elders, deacons, and bishops? Are they needed? suggested? a good idea? necessary to have a church?

Boot Camp

2007-03-22T01:08:00.000-04:00

Hey all everybody!

Today was the first day of the Acts 29 church planting boot camp which Grace Brethren has been kind enough to send us to. Here is the good, the bad, and the ugly. The good is a lot. Christina and Michelle went to a seminar about administrative concerns in church planting and thus we will begin the process of pursuing a non-profit status as soon as possible (which means we need to settle on a name now). They also came to some good conculsions about how we handle money and spend it (which means we need to officialize the budget). I went to a creativity in ministry seminar, which had some good ideas about including creative types in worship. The first session speaker was really good, and he said some good things about living out the gospel in community, not just gathering people in a place.

The bad is a little more difficult. Some of the boot camp so far just feels like a pep rally for Acts 29's style of ministry. From two of the staff at Mars Hill (the church that sponsors Acts 29), we have heard much in the way of "be like us or you probably won't make it." Also, with the exceptions above, not really too much that is practical church planting advice.

The ugly is basically one thing. Actually a person. And it isn't that he is physically ugly, he's not. He is verbally ugly. Now, i don't agree with everything Mark Driscoll (pastor of Mars Hill) has to say, but the way he says things is offensive. Those who know me will know why this is a big deal . I have never been short in the controversy department, but this guy made me feel like a saint. He attacked women in ministry, men who aren't "manly enough", those who drink soy milk, made fun of gay people pretty much the whole time, used the word "fag" at least once, said that he really doesn't like the city he ministers in (Seattle), pretty much dismissed any hint of egalitarian leadership, and was generally arrogant the whole time (even while he called upon us to oppose the arrogant). While I appreciate how Mars Hill is reaching Seattle for Christ, it left me with a taste in my mouth at the end of the day not unlike a really good fudge brownie with a small piece of poop in the middle.

Vision

2007-03-19T21:52:00.000-04:00

Hey guys,
Now that this semester of Seminary is over, I can resume some blog duties. Here is an excerpt from our latest prayer support letter. It is basically our vision for how we might use our passions to bless the part of creation we live in called Fort Worth.

"Here is what we want to do. We want to bridge the gap between the rich families, the poor families, and the postmodern kids who are the future of the church. Texas Christian University is right in the middle of it all, so we are targeting that area. Since all of us feel most comfortable in the postmodern context, much of our outward appearance and style will reflect that. However, we will rabidly stand against any approach that will exclude anyone, rich poor, families or otherwise. We are also very committed to neighborhood renewal. We want to adopt a neighborhood, rent a home somewhere in it, and turn it into a community renewal center, with tutoring, computers, child-care, etc... There are some more goals we have, and we will fill you all in as soon as we work out some details. This week, the Brandleys and the Presleys fly to Seattle for a church planting boot camp where we will be instructed on the nuts and bolts of church planting. That's all for now. Look for another update once we get back from Seattle.

God Bless us, everyone.

That crazy group of urban missionaries in Fort Worth
(Joseph, Michelle, Rachel, Kris, Autumn, Christina, and Chad)"

Pray for us, will ya? And if anyone wants to recieve the prayer newsleter (all you have to do is commit to praying for us) then just let me know.

In His dust,
Chad

Babies

2007-02-28T16:14:00.000-05:00

I learned something new today. In our class we were discussing the church's "prophetic voice". That ability and calling of the church to stand outside of culture and speak into it in order to transform it. I brought up how we have lost that voice because we have overpromised and underdelivered the gospel. My professor, a Dr. Jim Singleton (great prof, btw) suggested that we have given up that voice, but in order to reclaim it, we have to be better to the culture than it is to itself. One example was how the church in the first centuries would deal with exposure babies. These babies that were unwanted in the Roman empire would simply be left out in the cold to die after they were born. A modern day equivalent would be abortion. Then, the chruch would beg for the lives of these babies and raise them as thier own. The church grew radically during this period because of thier willingness to put thier faith above thier private life, adn also because of all of the babies who grew up that would have been killed otherwise. How can we as Christians be against abortion if we are not the very ones begging planned parenthood and abortion clinics to call us when a woman has an unwanted pregnancy? Are we willing to interuupt our lives in private for the sake of another life? For the sake of actually living our faith? For the sake of haveing another disciple in the Lord growing up from birth in a Christian home? This is something that requires further study and thought....

A plague on our houses

2007-02-27T14:29:00.000-05:00

Early in the history of the Church, a series of plagues spread throughout the Roman Empire. Soon, the important and rich people in Rome were moving to the countryside to escape the sickness. The Christians made and important decision. They decided to stay and help those suffering from the plague and raise the orphans who lost thier parents. Something strange happened. Whether it was because they had wide exposure and built up immunity, whether they took care of each other and cleanliness prevented the spread, or whether God's hand protected them, not many Christians died of the plague. By the time the important people came back to the cities, people couldn't wait to become Christians. Anyone who would be willing to die and suffer for the benefit of others, must be truer than what they had. Let us be likewise.

Optimyst - Check him out!

2007-02-26T22:57:00.000-05:00

My audition for the show, "Who wants to be a superhero?" is up on the web. Check out the video here. Hahaha, i can't believe i am on the web. In spandex. Roflolam. Rolling on the floor laughing out loud.. at myself.

shocking.

2007-02-21T14:38:00.000-05:00

Hey all everybutties,

I just finished reading Leslie Newbigin's book "foolishness to the Greeks", which i highly recomend if you like reading books that you can't understand unless you read them twice. Still, he is brilliant. I wanted to share a quote from him that changed my perspective quite a bit about the american dream we all seem to share. Here it is, followed by a quote from Dostoyevsky in the best book of all time. I won't elaborate on that one. Here they are.

"Modern capitalism has created a world totally different from anything known before. Previous ages have assumed that resources are limited and that economics - housekeeping - is about how to distribute them fairly, Since Adam Smith, we have learned to assume that exponential growth is the basic law of economics and that no limits can be set to it. The result is that increased production has become an end to itself; products are designed to become rapidly obsolete so as to make room for more production; a minority is ceaselessly urged to multiply its wants in order to keep the process going while the majority lacks the basic necessities for existence; and the whole ecosystem upon which human life depends is threatened with destruction. Growth is for the sake of growth and is not determined by any overarching social purpose. And that, of course, is an exact account of the phenomenon which, when it occurs in the human body, is called cancer."

- Lesslie Newbigin (1909-1998), Foolishness to the Greeks, 1986

Wow. You know, this puts our lives and system of Government into a whole new light for me. The myth of our culture that says "if you just work hard enough, you can get ahaed in the world" is pretty obviously not true, because there are limited resources. We need to be finding ways to distrubute them, not use the poor to farm them and let the rich consume them. I had a friend named Mark in college who turned me off to candy. Why? Because he let me in on a big secret. The only reason we can buy candy so cheap is because somewhere in another country around the world, an American company is enslaving a people or helping a dictator to do it so that they can produce the sugar for almost no cost. And for what? How many candy bars do we NEED? Zero. They actually are bad for us. But we continue to consume them even at the cost of human life and dignity. Botom line: our wants in America are coming before the needs of other human lives. I will leave you with this quote. God, I love this guy...

"The world has proclaimed the reign of freedom, especially of late, but what do we see in this freedom of theirs? Nothing but slavery and self-destruction! For the world says: "You have desires and so satisfy them, for you have the same rights as the most rich and powerful. Don't be afraid of satisfying them and even multiply your desires." That is the modern doctrine of the world. In that they see freedom. And what follows from this right of multiplication of desires? In the rich, isolation and spiritual suicide; in the poor, envy and murder; for they have been given rights, but have not been shown the means of satisfying their wants."

- Fyodor Dostoyevsky (1821–1881), The Brothers Karamazov, 1880 ch 41

Season of Lent

2007-02-19T09:57:00.000-05:00

~As you may know, this wednesday is Ash Wednesday, marking the 40 days (not including sundays) of penance in preparation to celebrate Easter. in the future, we’ll be having an Ash Wednesday service. also, i’d like to assimilate the tradition of putting ash on our foreheads to symbolize repentance of our sins.

~For now, meditate on the parable of the treasure in the field. Jesus told us a story of a man that found a treasure in a field. He buried it again, sold everything he had, bought the field, and then the treasure was his. to sell everything to gain the Kingdom is considered noble. i wonder how much nobility i could find in myself to do this.

~in this spirit, i’m throwing out the challenge for our entire church to fast. in medieval times, Christians would abstain from meat. i am considering comic books. notice that neither meat nor comics are inherently sinful or evil things… but the spiritual discipline of fasting is a physical manifestation of the idea that obtaining the Kingdom is worth giving relinquishing our grasp on everything else.

~if you are going to fast from something like movies or video games that take time out of your week, i urge you to spend those hours you’ve regained in prayer or study of Scripture. if you fast from something else, then make time in your week for extra God-pursuit.

i trust that through all this you may just find Him.

peace,

Chad and Joseph

the spread of the gospel

2007-02-18T16:12:00.000-05:00

"What is espeially striking is the way in which the gospel of the kingdom initially spread. It did not spread because of a carefully designed program of evangelism; nor did it start because the early disciples meditated on the Great Commission and felt that they had better obey it to assuage thier feeliungs of guilt. The church did not begin its evangelistic activity because it was terrified about the prospects that faced those who died without hearing about Christ; the Christian movement was not initiated by a band of professional evangelists eager to sign up a public relations firm and get the show on the road. Rather, the gospel spread and the church grew because the sovereign hand of God was in the midst of the community that found itself surrounded by people who were puzzled and intrigued by what they saw happening".

This is from a book called "The Logic of Evangelism" by William Abraham. I love this view of sharing faith that has less to do with guilt or well thought out action plans and more to do with an excitement about what God is doing in our midst. Lord, please help us here in Fort Worth to be so excited and share the excitement of what you are doing among us.

Never in a million years

2007-02-16T00:16:00.000-05:00

I did something that I thought I would never do. Those of you that know me will know how funny this is. I applied for a job at a Christian bookstore. Yep. I did it. Ha.

Choices

2007-02-04T21:23:00.000-05:00

Christina and I were talking with child behaviorist the other day and she turned us onto a well respected parenting teacher. As we watched his video, we were enlightened and a little embarrassed at how all of the things he described that parents do wrong were things that we do with Autumn. Stuff like threats (if you do that, I will...), getting so frustrated that you resort to raising your voice (I am guilty), and bedtime stuff like laying with your child, bargaining, etc.. Well, the alternative he gave was a choice based system. In other words, you give the child the choice. Something like, "if you chose to get out of bed, you are choosing to not watch cartoons in the morning. If you choose to stay in bed, you are choosing to be able to watch cartoons in the morning". After we watched this video, Christina and I were both willing to give the choice a try. No lie, it works nearly perfectly. Not that it works right away, but once the consequences of her choice is real, she has almost never made the same bad choice twice. It has been almost a week.

The reason I post this here is because I have been thinking about this system in terms of discipleship and ministry. How often have we been guilty of treating people like children with us as the poor parents? If I am honest, I have used threats , raising your voice (I am guilty), bargaining, and emotionalism to try to get people to get serious about God. Perhaps it is time for a new way. Instead of our teaching being manipulative, perhaps we should inform people of how choices affect themselves and others and then ask them to choose. In Deuteronomy, God listed all of the pluses and minuses of following him and then told his people to choose life.

Robin Wood says that the end of the sermon time is the place for "the big ask". The time where you ask people to step up, not in a manipulative way, but honestly. Maybe it is time for us to ask people to make "the big choice" and provide them with tools every week to be more of a disciple.

Dog/SHYC

2007-01-28T01:18:00.000-05:00

So Friday, we got a dog. Cutest thing ever. Yes, cute. It is an Aussie/shepherd mix. It is the first time Christina and I have had a pet. Autumn named it Ace (see reference to Ace here). Check out the sweet pic of Autumn and Ace below.

In other news, we are at an event called SHYC (senior high youth connection). It is much bigger than most of the youth events I have been to and yet all of the youth seem to know each other. Good times. Two thoughts on Presbyterian youth versus non-denominational youth.

1) Pres youth aren't expressive in worship. I raised my hands in worship and I was only 1 of about 3 in 500. I didn't want to embarrass my students, but they assured me they didn't care, so I went for it, a full blown two-handed worship expression.

2) The other thing about Pres youth is that their faith seems to be much more "other" focused than "self" focused. The messages and expressions are not so much on how I can encounter God, but how I can serve and make a difference in the world. They seem to get it.

What I hope Panther City becomes is a place where both are fostered. I want a place where people are experiencing God and using their talents in creative ways, but also never forgetting that all of this is for a purpose, a mission, God's dream for the world. Let it be.

Oh and by the way, my youth group rules. Led Zeppelin, Dungeons and Dragons, smart girls, social activists in the making, and Levi. Yep. We rule.

Check em out

2007-01-25T16:33:00.000-05:00

Since Golds gave me props on his blog, I figure turnabout is fair play. So here are two blogs I want you to check out while you surf the net. The first is Mike Goldsworthy's here. He has tons of good stuff to say and he has always been someone I deeply respect as a thinker and a true pastor. The second is from another college buddy, who goes by the handle Jaded Children's Minister. Since he doesn't give his name away on his site, I won't either.

Give these guys some talkback too. They deserve it.

Rap

2007-01-25T12:43:00.000-05:00

At the risk of offending someone, I am still going to blog about rap. As a youth advocate (mentor) for Tarrant County, I spend 20-30 hours a week with youth who are "at-risk", or not so politely, have tried to stab, shoot, rob, or otherwise gank someone or have bought, sold, used, or otherwise misused illegal drugs. So far, I have noticed a few trends in the students I have mentored. Here are a few:

One parent home. Mom is the only authority in the house.

They all "front". In other words, they all act much tougher around other youth than they actualy are.

Low income. So far, all of the youth i have mentored have been week to week with thier paychecks. They usually need food, utilities, or clothing at any given moment.

Bad part of town. This might not be saying much since there are more bad areas than good areas anymore in the nation's cities, but all of the kids I have mentored have lived in what most of america would call "scary" neighboorhoods.

Last, they all listen to rap. Not Beastie Boys or Run DMC or even Puff Diddy. The hardcore gangsta stuff. I usually let them listen to what they want on the radio, and as a result, I now know words to songs I would never have listened to before. I want to spend some time on rap.

Without fail, every rap song in the top 5 deals with some form of sex. Believe me, I am not a prude about sex, but what passes for sex in these songs is nothing less than degradation of women, glorification of one night stands, gloating about not wearing protection, and mulitple partners, etc... I am saddened that all of the progress that the women's rights movement and Martin Luther King's Civil rights movement made are being systematically eradicated by this culture.

I am a far cry from where I was 10 years ago when church camp tried to get me to throw away all of my Led Zeppelin albums because they were Satanic. This is serious. Music DOES affect us. All of thee kids start out behind and then get music fed to them that says they should take what they want (sex, money, drugs, power) by force, that themselves are all that matters, that everyone is out to get them, and that women are meaningless "bitches".

Beyonce? You are alright. But all of this other crap belongs "to the left, to the left". Go 'head and get gone.

Who Wants To Be a Superhero

2007-01-24T23:11:00.000-05:00

Sunday, I tried out for the reality show, "Who Wants To Be a Superhero"? Here is how it went down:

I went to NorthEast Mall in Fort Worth where the auditions were. The audtitions started at 12:00, so I got there about 10:30. I walked to where the auditions were going to be held and there were legions of WWE fans in line to see profesional wrestling stars after the superhero stuff finished. I was a little afraid. So I went to get a haircut. When my fly do was done, I went and got dressed.

Let me say now that walking through the mall dressed in a spandex superhero suit was pretty amazing. With my powers, I clearly percived children being in awe, ladies staring at my 'tocks, and men being profoundly inspired.

When I got to the stage, I was directed to stand off to the left and there I met such other heroes as Soterian, Corn Colonel, Odd, Superfatdaddy, Blue Justice, Granite Man, Coralis, Lone Star, and Fat Tuesday. I was directed to go first, and so they strapped a mic on me and I went up on stage. They asked me all sorts of questions about Optimyst and I think I did quite well.

The other heroes also did well, particularly Soterian, Corn Colonel, Coralis, Fat Tuesday, and Odd. After we were done, we were asked to stay around and take pictures. Kids were asking for pictures with us, and we started calling ourselves the Awesomes (tongue in cheek). We will not know who, if any of us will make it to "hollywood" until march. I did however, find the whole experience pretty cool.

Church Planting Assessment part 2

2007-01-22T14:47:00.000-05:00

Wow. What an incredibly busy weekend! As promised, this is the results portion of what happened at the church planting assessment. Friday, we started the day off by going over what a typical church planter might look like based on previous statistics. They judged based on personality and percived spiritual giftings. They admitted they were a little confused by my scores, as I didn't fit the profile for a church planter (but the confusion was that I didn't fit any existing profile, lol). Christina on the other hand scored just about as high as you can get for typical church planter attributes. After that, we were asked to take part in a project with the two other couples there while the assessors worked on the results. This is when they decided how we were to be graded on our probable church planting affectiveness. The project they had us do was a little like a school project. We were given ficticious demographics of a fictitious town and asked to put together a chruch planting strategy that would reach the community and plant another church or two within 3-5 years.

When they finally came back and we told them our strategy for reaching this made up group, the assessors gave the group a high compliment and said that it was the most culturally relevant and innovative model/strategy that they have ever heard and pretty much offered to fund it if we decided to do it that way. Unfortunately, we each already had church plants underway. I was very tempted anyway, but Fort Worth has taken me in and I am not an adulterous son.

Shortly after, and at the end of the weekend, we had our exit interview. They explained how they had a "traffic light system". Green light meaning "we love you, let's do this", yellow light meaning "you might be cut out for this, but not right now and not with us", or red light meaning "are you even a christian? what on earth made you think you could even share the gospel, let alone be a pastor or plant a church". We were thinking that based on the personality stuff earlier that we might get a yellow. We were told that if there was anything higher than a green, we would have gotten it. Needless to say we were very thankful and excited. It was a great weekend and we met many new friends and fellow workers in the kingdom.

What's next? Tim Boal, the big cheese at Grace Brethren North American Missions (GBNAM) is going to fly out to Panther City late February/early March and give a series of next steps. Also, there is a "church planters boot camp" coming up in a few months that will help with nuts and bolts practical stuff. In the mean time, we keep loving people, having parties, and kingdom acting. Wanna join us?

Church Planting Assessment part 1

2007-01-18T21:18:00.000-05:00

Today we had our first day of the long awaited church planting assessment sponsored by GBNAM (Grace Brethren North American Missions). We flew into Philadelphia yesterday (Wednesday) and drove up to a place called Quakertown, PA. To be honest, that day I was so excited to be in this part of America. The thing that really excited me about this area? The forest. It is like a continuous forest from Philly to Quakertown, which is about an hour north.

Back to the assessment. We were interviewed about every area of our lives. Christina and I were asked about our parenting, our relationship, conflict resolution, evangelism strategy, our call to ministry, who was the last person we converted, every person we have had an influence on, and a grip of other stuff. We were there from noon to 8:30. Oh, and I had to preach. To two people. Who judged every word I said. No expressions on their faces. For 15 minutes (ha! I went 20!). Ouch.

Tomorrow we find out results. Pray if you read this before Friday. Every one there is very nice. There are two other couples in the assessment being assessed with us, and 6 assessors doing the assessing of the assessees.

Parting thought: I have come into contact with something I dislike very much. Having to explain my thought process to type "A" personalities. I think much too abstractly to give yes or no answers to essay questions. I am sure I will get over it.

Nolan

2007-01-17T21:23:00.000-05:00

When I started working for TCAP (Tarrant County Advocate Program), I became a mentor for just a few kids to start out. Nolan was one of those. Nolan was basically a good kid. He got into trouble, but like most of the students I mentored, much of this trouble could have been avoided. Some of it could be avoided by having some kind of responsible male figure to guide him, which I tried to be during our 7 hours/week. It could have been avoided by a little help for his family, which was stricken by poverty. It could have been avoided by Nolan having a little bit more faith in himself, that he could become something without having to take it from someone else. Unfortunately, that is not what happened. I just found out Nolan almost got away while shoplifting from Wal-mart. While running, Nolan was hit by an oncoming truck and died. God, in your mercy, watch over Nolan and his family. I am not sure what I am feeling, but I do know that this is the reason God put on Jesus' flesh. This is the reason we are a new community. This is why we can't be part of the problem. We must be part of the solution.

R.I.P.
Nolan
1993-2006

Last Night's Party/Church

2007-01-14T14:31:00.000-05:00

So last night we had our second "church meeting" which was actually a party at Joseph and Michelle's house. We thought that meeting and loving people was equal with worshipping God through song and scripture. We all invited people, but only the people that Michelle invited came. Because of that, we figure that Michelle is now the cool kid. It was ok though, because Michelle invited like 12 people and they all showed up, so there was like 20 people there. I was a little apprehensive about partying with a whole lot of people that I didn't know, since all of the parties I went to in high school were disastrous for me, but we all had a really good time.

It was really cool, in a "God is sovereign" kinda way that the people that were at the party came from such different background (retail work, waitresses, hair salonists, students, etc...) and I wondered how they would get along. Funny thing is, a few of them already knew each other and we all blended really well. There are a few people there I felt like I connected with and a few people that I just really enjoyed being there with. Especially on my heart was a girl named Jac and a girl named Lindsey. Everyone I met was really cool though. Since Lindsey works at a hair salon, I will probably go there to get my haircut from now on.

At any rate, the party was a huge success and I am now firmly convinced that if you want to build relationships with new people, having a party is the way to go. Study, prayer, and worship to resume this week. Then, who knows, maybe another party...?

Optimyst...

2007-01-13T16:22:00.000-05:00

will be making his triumphant return at the "Who wants to be a superhero" tryouts in Dallas on January 21. Please pray that he is selected over all of the other mighty heroes to compete for the honor of being immortalized in a comic book and movie. Check out the pic below for a recent Optimyst sighting...

Overwhelmed

2007-01-10T15:02:00.000-05:00

That is what I am at the moment. The admin at Fuller messed up my registration, so i have to start a class two weeks behind and make up all the work... and order the books...which won't get here in time for me to catch up... The church planting assesment is coming up quickly, and as soon as I get back, my classes in Houston start. Also, tryouts for "who wants to be a superhero" are on the 21st in Dallas so Optimyst has to make an appearance. Also, the 26-28th, the youth group (1st Presbyterian) has a youth conference. Also, I need to have, like a zillion books read before the houston classes start. Plus, I am not good at juggling. at all.

Lord... strength. Thanks

Things

2007-01-07T23:18:00.000-05:00

We had our first official meeting of the Panther City Core group last night. We talked about prayer and how we practice it. We took the Euchrist (communion) and talked about having a party next week to meet each other's friends. Afterwards, Kris and Rachel Rosier arrived from Oregon (by way of California). We are so blessed to have them here. I seriously can't wait to see what God is going to do through us in Fort Worth. The week after the party, I would like to start dreaming about what God could do through us short and long term here in Panther City.

Prayer for Today

2007-01-07T22:52:00.000-05:00

Father,
We have not done our best.
We do not trust in your mercy.
We want to change the world,
but we don't know what to do.
Give us peace to focus on what is in front of us,
and vision to dream for the world's redemption.
Help us overcome our hurtful ways,
and let us forgive when we have been hurt.
Let us have meaningful work today.
Let us love you,
Let us love you,
Let us love you.

Down on Jesus

2007-01-05T20:28:00.000-05:00

I have run across quite a bit of anti-Jesus stuff in my day. When I was a kid, there was a lot of "Satanic" rock bands that tried to cash in on the rebel side of youth culture. I never could get into it because I was frankly afraid that God would send me to Hell. While I believe now that God has much better things in mind for people than killing them for listening to silly, mean songs, nevertheless this anti-God/Jesus/religion stuff continues to make itself know to me.

One of the most difficult times I ran into this kind of thing was while I was working as a youth pastor in Rancho Cucamonga, CA. I had ran into a website claiming that Jesus never existed. After feeling a pit in my stomach well up, i thought, "could this be true"? Maybe my whole life believing in God was fake? So I went to Barnes and Noble and bought a book called the Jesus Mysteries. It told about how Jesus is a renamed version of pre-existing god-myths from other cultures. It told of how the early Church deliberately lied about facts and made Jesus up from nothing, combining Jewish ideas, a Persian worldview, and pagan stories. This really did a number on me. I walked around for a week or so telling my close friends that I didn't believe in Jesus. They looked at me like I was just about the silliest person they had ever met. They just didn't think it was a big deal. And it turned out it wasn't. I went back through the book, underlining all of the places I could find where the research was faulty, and the whole arguement fell apart.

It is funny now that I look back that if I would have simply known the story the right way, all of that could have been avoided. Since taking church history and reading the actual literature of the early church, there is no possible way anyone can conclude that Jesus was not an actual person. I simply don't have the space or desire to go into that particular discussion here, but if anyone really wants it, then reply with said desire and we might get to it.

Now it seems that there is an organization called "The Rational Response Squad" which has set out to eliminate religion. They claim the same tired stuff that Jesus never existed and to prove it, they say some of the same stuff that I said on my podcast about Christmas a few weeks ago. As if by telling us Christmas wasn't originally a Christian holiday, our entire faith falls apart. Please. There are much bigger things that cause me to doubt than worrying about whether or not Jesus was born on a cold december night or a warm march one.

At any rate, Jesus... you are the man. Thanks for living. Thanks for teaching. Sorry about the death, but I really do appreciate it. You rock, Lord. Love, Chad.

Prayer on my mind

2007-01-05T00:34:00.000-05:00

So I woke up this monrning thinking a lot about prayer. It was 5am and this podcast is the result of my thoughts... click here for prayercast.

Tomato

2007-01-03T22:16:00.000-05:00

I was reading on the Sojourners website about Mcdonalds and how they put corporate profits above human dignity in regards to how they treat the workers who pick thier tomatoes. "Workers who toil from dawn to dusk without the right to overtime pay or any benefits must pick two tons of tomatoes to earn $50 in one day". To see the whole story, click here. It seems that Taco Bell has made a huge step towards treating workers fairly by contrast. So today I went to lunch, and chose to eat at Taco Bell versus Mcdonalds. Well, when I was eating a taco, a little tomato fell on my lap and I couldn't help but say, "you rock Taco Bell"! Can I get an amen?

Best of last year

2007-01-01T12:26:00.000-05:00

Last year (2006) was certainly a thrill ride for us. Instead of focusing on all of the events, I want to nuance my rememberance with a few top 5 lists.

Top 5 books I read last year:
1. Exclusion and Embrace by Miroslav Volf
2. Secret Message of Jesus by Brian McLaren
3. Interpreting the Synoptic Gospels by Scot McKnight
4. Irrisistable Revolution by Shane Claiborne
5. Challenge of Jesus by N.T. Wright

Top 5 tv shows
1.Heroes
2.Lost
3.Avatar
4.24
5.Smallville

Top 5 movies
1. Little Miss Sunshine (which is amazzzzazing!)
2. V for Vendetta
3. The Da Vinci Code
4. Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest
5. Serenity (I didn't see it till this year)

Top 5 personal theological reflections
1. The Gospel is bigger than "believe Jesus died and rose so you get to heaven"
2. Heaven is important but it isn't the end of the world
3. Paul might not have gotten along with Matthew and James
4. Paul is not law, but he set out to interpret Jesus as his peers interpreted Torah
5. Non-violence is one of the most important discipleship issues

There ya go. The positive side of 2006. Peace yo.

Core Values

2006-12-31T15:25:00.000-05:00

Hey guys, I am about to send these out to our Panther City Prayer Team. Check it out and give us any last minute suggestions before it goes out. Also, if any of you would like to be on the prayer team, shoot me an email or reply here. Hulk54@gmail.com. Peace!

Panther City Church Plant places importance on the following values as of first importance:

Jesus is our Teacher
- Not just our Savior, not just our Lord, not just a baby in a manger. Jesus taught us how to live; all of those who came after (including the apostles, church fathers, or medieval, reformation, and contemporary teachers) (including Peter, Paul, Saint Augustine, Martin Luther, John Calvin, Billy Graham, Brian McLaren, and Rob Bell) are just helpful interpreters rather than our source of teaching. We are no longer content to keep Jesus in the manger or on the cross, He is alive and present in our communities through the Spirit and His teachings.

Commitment to Community
- Tertullian said, "one cannot have God for his Father without having the Church as his mother". While we ultimately cannot judge who is a true son or daughter of the King, we believe that Tertullian was onto something. We believe that it is only in community that we can live out a faith that is adheres to God's dream. This means creating a family where there was none before. This means acceptance, forgiveness, strong families, commitment, and more.

Creativity is Invaluable
- Innovation, creativity, cultural relevance, and a drive for excellence permeates our community. We believe that God has given us specific gifts to use to further His dream for creation. Our entire lives must be used in the context of imitating God's creative essence and "doing everything as unto the Lord.” Our artists and artisans, craftsman and those who make Kraft macaroni and cheese will be supported and honored.

Embracing the Outcasts
- There are those who society politely (or violently) ignores and pushes away. We reject the alienation of any group of people (all of which bear God's image) as blasphemous. We will actively embrace people without discrimination based on their sex, sexual preference, richness, poorness, occupation, hygiene, or past actions. We will not discriminate, but we will be discerning and seek to protect each other even as we reach out.

Sacramental Life
- We believe God has given us rituals, ceremonies, rites, and events as ways to honor him and mark spiritual occasions, as well as translate spiritual realities into community life. (A sacrament is a Christian rite that mediates divine grace - a holy Mystery) Such sacraments include baptism, Eucharist, marriage, prayer, and possibly others as it seems good to us and the Holy Spirit. God's mediation is not limited to these, but we commit to at least these in our communities.

Sacred Space
- We believe in thin places. In other words, there are places where the division between the heavenly (where God's will is done) and the earthly (where we currently are) becomes "thin". It is in these places that worshipping God seems more free and natural… that peace and harmony seem more frequent… places that are almost sacramental in themselves. We aim to create these "thin places" or "sacred spaces" wherever we can. First, we value our place of gathering to be a sacred space. Second, we value our neighborhoods to be sacred spaces, and work to make them so. Third, we feel like we have been adopted by our city, and vice versa, and work to make the city we live in a sacred space. Fourth, we long to see all of creation, our entire world, become a sacred space.

Death (of a Dictator)

2006-12-30T09:38:00.000-05:00

Last night, the funeral of Gerald Ford was pretty low key for a presidential burial. On the other side of the world, however, it was a death that was being celebrated instead of a life. Saddam Hussein was executed by hanging. It was funny how people around me reacted to this. Some people were very happy to see this happen. Others were indifferent. I wonder if I was the only one feeling unhappy about it.

I really don't know where to start, but Saddam was a child of God. The things he did don't make him any less loved that the things we do. And if God loves a person, we are called to love them as well. I guess the bottom line for being a Christian and reflecting on the death penalty (or wars for that matter) is that it is hard to claim we love someone while we kill them.

To be honest, I still haven't worked all of this out yet, but violence is become more and more abhorrent to me. I still wonder about the role of police and military though. For the earliest Christians, being a soldier was incompatible with following Jesus. They either quit the military or assumed non-combat roles.

I have stopped wishing death for anyone. Abortion and the death penalty are both wrong. I want to promote life in all of its forms, and fight death in all its ways. The way of death that is currently bothering me the most isn't execution, it's poverty. Drive down Lancaster under the 30 fwy in Fort Worth and you will see what I mean.

God, how can I help.......?

Sasha

2006-12-28T21:41:00.000-05:00

This is Sasha. I took a few kids to the International Exotic Cat Sanctuary today. It is a pretty amazing place where kind people care for big cats that have been neglected, hurt, abused, or abandoned. They are totally donation based and non profit. So you can go take tours and see lions, cougars, leopards, tigers, and other big cats in habitats. While we were there, one of the tour guides told me about one of the cats in particular, a panther. Actually, there is no species called panther. Pantera covers tigers, cougars, leopards, jaguars and others. What we tend to think of as pathers are more specifically leopards. So this panther, named Sasha, was kept next to a large tiger. They used to play with each other through the bars. One day, Sasha put her arm in the habitat of the tiger and the tiger snapped and bit off Sasha's arm.

Although Sasha has only three legs, she gets along quite well. With the help of those around her, she is able to overcome her weakness and bless all of the kids and adults who come to see her. When I heard Sasha's story and got to see her with my own eyes, my spirit was stirred. Sasha is us. We have all been brutally attacked by a world that is apart from the dream of its Creator. Like Sasha, we are broken. Like Sasha, we need others to get our lives managable. Like Sasha, we can be a blessing to others despite our handicaps, whether physical, mental, or spiritual. Sasha is my new favorite big cat.

Prophetic Wife 1.0

2006-12-26T20:47:00.000-05:00

So every once in a while, my wife will say, "Chad, look up this scripture". Then I look up the scripture and try to apply it to our situation. Whether or not these are "prophetic" scriptures (scriptures that God gives my wife on purpose to lead us somewhere) or not, they usually hit some kind of nerve. So last night she says, "look up Leviticus 3:11-12 and Leviticus 6:13. They are as follows:

"11 The priest shall burn them on the altar as food, an offering made to the LORD by fire. 12 “‘If his offering is a goat, he is to present it before the LORD."

"13 The fire must be kept burning on the altar continuously; it must not go out."

At first I was puzzled about the first one, but after reflection, I think God might be telling me the importance of worshipping and fulfilling the commands of the Lord. It is also significant that the goat was niether the best offering nor the least, but was the animal that took all the punishment onto himself. Verse thirteen I feel is an encouragement to keep close to God in times of worship and times of normalcy. Peace

Merry Christmas

2006-12-25T15:43:00.001-05:00

I have a few offerings for this Christmas day. The first, is a few comic book creators giving thier take on holiday cheer here.

Secondly, my work for this semester of Seminary is all done. If you would like, you can read the final papers online. The first is for a class on Church history, taught by a wonderful professor, Maxie Burch. My paper deals with Irenaeus, a second century theologian. The paper deals with the limits of scripture, how we interpret the Bible, and especially the heart of the faith, the "rule of truth". You can read it here.

The second paper is a commentary on the story of Jesus and the helaing of Jairus' daughter. It helped me a lot personally to write this because it cemented my thinking on why we should help others and how we should feel about death and illness. It also has lots of feminist undertones to it as well. The ladies should like this one. You can read it here.

Finally, enjoy the true meaning of Christmas, Linus style.

Pre-Christmas blues and my daughter's gross-limit

2006-12-24T18:14:00.000-05:00

So yesterday as we were driving home from Christina's mom's house, Autumn was watching her dvd of the Grinch that stole Christmas with her headphones on. The adults were having a conversation about bathroom stuff (which we won't go into) and we hear Autumn from the backseat say, "can you guys please stop talking about gross things? Thank you". Cutest thing ever. Especially from a girl who loves to burp as loud as she can in public and then stand proudly as everyone turns and sees the mighty three-year-old own the belch. But she draws the line at her parents talkning about potty.

On a different note, there is a little sadness that I get that seems to start the day before Christmas, and seems to last till the day after. It is almost as if this has always been the case, except when I was little, it was covered up by all of the gifts and merry-making. Now that I am older and see myself more clearly, i am actually a little embarrassed by recieving gifts. I know me, and I know that I do not deserve gifts and yet the people that know me are of such nobility that they go out of thier way to get for me. I feel as if they are wasting thier hard earned money on something that they should be spending on someone better than me. But that is only a part of it.

I am not sure but I think there is a feeling of wasted opportunity at Christmastime. As if the whole country (world?) sets apart a time to recognize Jesus and the best we can come up with is materialism and claymation stories of snowmen and reindeer. It feels like we should be doing something EPIC when we celebrate the birth of Christ (yes we know it was not December 25, but it is like presidents day, we celebrate it when it is the most convinient). Someone surprise me. If you are reading this, make a comment below and give us your idea about what we SHOULD do to celebrate Christmas. I will try to do it tommorrow. Merry Christmas.

PS, I am thinking about doing book reviews. Any books you want me to read?

Deconstructing Christmas

2006-12-24T14:59:00.000-05:00

Fo those of you who want to get back to the original meaning of Christmas, this is for you. This is a continuation of a tradition that goes back a few years where we discuss the "Real" meaning of Christmas, and why we do some of the things that we do this time of year. It is always a fan favorite, and stuff gets added every year. I have included the power point presentation that I used last year, so if you want to see all of the illustrations, download the ppt file, grab a hot cup of apple cider, and listen to the podcast. Download the file by clicking below.

Deconstructing Christmas

Deconstructing Christmas powerpoint

God bless, and merry Christmas!

Mutt

2006-12-23T13:13:00.000-05:00

I have been many things. Specifically, I have been part of many churches. I wasn't "raised in the church", but I attended some growing up. The first church I can remember going to was in junior high. It was a Church of Christ. I remember being sent to the youth Sunday school class while my mom went to the "big service". I sat there, among 8 or so others, and the adult leader said, "okay everyone, what I want to know now is what is your favorite Bible story"? 1 or 2 people went before me, but I honestly don't remember what they said. When it came to me though, I realized that I didn't know any Bible stories. All eyes were on me as I fumbled around in my suddenly frantic brain for any story I knew that might have been connected to the Bible (which I had never read). It felt like a lifetime before I finally swallowed my pride and admitted that I didn't know any stories from the Bible (figuring that at this point humiliation was best admitted and moved on from rather than being given free reign to be stared at). The leader said, "Come on, you know some Bible stories. Just pick one". I again I admitted I didn't know any. Then he said, "you know, like Noah's ark, or..." "Yes, Noah's ark. That is my favorite one. Noah's ark". He looked disappointed in me, but moved on. All I could think of was never coming back there again. And I didn't.

After that, I didn't attend a Church for around 4 years. But what I did do was join a club called "Athlete's in Action", a ministry of Campus Crusade for Christ. I got "saved" at a high school Bible study (which was actually called a "post-game pizza party", talk about bait and switch). That was amazing for my spirituality, but there was never any effort to get me involved in a church. So I developed a spirituality that was disconnected from community.

Also during this time, I started listening to Christian radio preachers. These guys are what Brian Mclaren calls "radio orthodox". I gained a lot of Bible knowledge (which I am thankful for to this day) but also a lot of baggage, including a pretty unbecoming judgemental attitude.

It was after I graduated high school, I joined a Christian Church. This was very formative for me. It was the first time, perhaps ever, that I had an extended community that cared about me and each other. The Christian Church basically holds no creeds, focuses on getting back to the early church way of doing things, and being a "non-denomination". The Christian Church guided my views of church, and radio orthodoxy guided my theology.

After college, I took a position at a true non-denominational church. We did everything according to our own thoughts, and were part of no greater organization.

After a few years, I was on staff at the Christian church, but I was growing discontented. At various youth conferences I went to while out of town, I visited Catholic Churches. I must say, the creeds, the liturgy, the standing up and sitting down, the formality involved, all gave me very spiritual feelings I could not explain. I really dug it, but I didn't tell anyone.

When we decided to plant a church , we got involved with a denomination called "Grace Brethren. I like them a lot. They are really flexible, but place a lot of value on triune baptism and foot washing services, which are very cool.

Since moving to Texas, we became involved with a Charismatic church, which was new to us, although the intensity with which they worship is amazing, and I still am very close to their leadership.

Since, I have become the youth leader at a Presbyterian Church. I am falling in love with the liturgy although I am still getting used to the committees.

I have found that, for many reasons, I love the architecture of Episcopal/Anglican churches. I feel like the buildings themselves help us to get closer to God. I have often gone in them just to pray or to walk their labyrinths.

Funny, but the only Baptist church I have been to is Saddleback, the mega-church in California. Which is not what I would call a typical Baptist church.

I aspire next to attend some churches of the Eastern Orthodox tradition, but the opportunity hasn't come up.

Although there are a lot of Methodist churches in Texas, I haven't got around to them either.

I have found that all of these different churches bring something different to the table of faith. Don't let your own preferences prevent you from experiencing other traditions. You will find that just because you aren't used to the way other people worship, you might still find blessings when you share in someone else's spirituality.

So I am a Mutt, with no denomination, but loving them all.

Peace.

Parak

2006-12-22T23:07:00.000-05:00

Don't expect this special treatment all of the time, but we are following up yesterday's introductory podcast with another one today. This is a sermon given a few months ago (actually 6 or 7) at Mission Viejo Christian Church. It deals with Jesus and the breaking in of God's Kingdom into the world. This Christmas season, may you let the kingdom break into your life in an unlimited way, through the way of Jesus. Download the podcast by clicking the link below. Peace.

Parak Sermon

Panther City Podcast 001

2006-12-22T01:09:00.000-05:00

The new podcast is up! This first one tells the tale of why Fort Worth has the nickname "Panther City". I think it is a fitting intro to the fun that we are going to have with this silly stuff called technology. To listen, click the link below -

Panther City Podcast 001 - The Story

God's people and the vine

2006-12-21T01:25:00.000-05:00

So while I was studying for my Gospels class, I found an interesting tidbit about the Jewish feast of Purim. This was the feast that commemorated Esther being used by God to save the Jews. Mordacai, a god guy helped, and Haman, a bad guy was helped to the noose. Anywho, this is a qote I found from the Jewish scrptures from the time of Jesus concerning Purim...

"The Jew is to drink until he can no longer distingish between the sentences, "blessed be mordacai," and "cursed be haman."

I can't really think of anything that would enhance the impact of that quote, except maybe this quote from Saint Benedict concerning the amount the monks are supposed to drink...

"Indeed we read that wine is not suitable for monks at all. But because, in our day, it is not possible to persuade the monks of this, let us agree at least as to the fact that we should not drink till we are sated, but sparingly..."